Passengers flying into Dublin and travelling north will not have to register for 14-day quarantine

Both the UK and Irish governments have announced two-week quarantine periods for international travellers to help protect against a second wave of coronavirus

Staff Reporter

23 May, 2020 01:00

INTERNATIONAL passengers flying into Dublin airport and travelling on to Northern Ireland will not have to register for 14-day quarantine.

Both the UK and Irish governments yesterday announced two-week isolation periods to help protect against a second wave of coronavirus.

The UK rule, which begins on June 8, exempts Ireland but other nationalities must register at an address and will risk a £1,000 fine if they are not there when checked.

The Irish government restrictions, which come into effect 10 days earlier on May 28, require people arriving through ports and airports to fill out a passenger locator form.

It will be an offence not to fill out the form, with a fine of up to E2,500.

However, the legislation exempts passengers “transiting via Ireland to another jurisdiction including Northern Ireland”. Passengers from the north will only have to indicate on the form that they are exempt.

It means that people returning to the north from highly-infected countries will not have to register for quarantine if they travel through the Republic’s airports or ports.

There are currently no international travellers flying directly into the north, with passenger planes only connecting to London since the coronavirus crisis began.

However, Easyjet has said it will restart flights to Belfast on June 15 and Ryanair is due to begin on July 1.

In other developments yesterday:

* Residents of Clifton Nursing Home in north Belfast were being moved out because of concerns about “the way it is being run” including “management of a Covid-19 outbreak”.

* The chief constable signalled a change of focus from next week from policing the lockdown to fighting crime.

* Three more people died from coronavirus in Northern Ireland, bringing the Department of Health's total to 504. However, there were 664 deaths recorded up to May 15 when all death certificates that mention Covid-19 are included.

* Another 11 people died in the Republic, bringing deaths there to 1,592, while across the UK the death toll rose by 351 to 36,394.

* Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill have written an open letter to the public thanking them for the personal sacrifices they have made for the good of others during the Covid-19 crisis.